Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com> wrote:

(though I failed to locate Alastair and his Rough Trade bag).

Hey - we were there! I just didn't stick around for the after-show wine and nibbles as I felt very out of place. Having done Erik Friedlander, Mori/Courvoisier/Belogenis, Bailey/Ibarra, Barnes/I-Sound, John Hollenbeck Claudia Quintet, David Krakauer, the Louis Belogenis Trio and of course JZ's Chimeras in the last five days I've realised that everyone on each of the interlocking NY scenes appears to know everyone else and the idea of standing by myself sipping my wine was not for me - and there were Paul Auster books to buy in Barnes & Noble (where I went after the gig...). But I'm not insulted ;>). I heartily endorse Steve's review but would like to make a couple of additions. For the first nine (? sometimes difficult to keep count) books there was only one soprano on stage - Ilana Davidson. However, during the tenth one became aware of notes that weren't obviously coming from the performers on stage. Were they another voice? Or another flute, perhaps? It was at about this point that I paid attention to the black mass on stage to the performers' right which I'd not noticed before. Sure enough, for the climactic part of the piece, on walked Beth Ann Hatton from behind the black mass to take her place alongside Ilana Davidson. Schafer asked Zorn about this in the discussion and he confirmed that installing uncertainty into the audience was indeed what he had intended, and solved at least one of the problems of writing a piece which included two sopranos. I think it'll lose a bit on translation to CD though... And one further musician-spot: Sylvie Courvoisier. Alastair -- Personalised email by http://another.com